


paper hearts

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, Sets Somewhere in Europe, Soft & Sweet, Time Skips, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23837938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Hearts may be made out of paper, but Donghyuck learns that with Mark, he doesn't need to worry about that.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 126





	paper hearts

**6**

“Donghyuck, come here”

Donghyuck’s grandmother softly calls out to the little boy. Donghyuck immediately gets up, leaving his spot on the fluffy mattress on the floor. He had been watching the cartoons.

The little boy walks up to his grandmother, sitting to the chair next to her. She has put down her knitting and set them on the table in front of them. She looks down at Donghyuck and smiles,

“Should we do some origamis together?”

Donghyuck nods quickly. He loves doing origami with his grandmother. He’s not very good at it but she is always patient with him, teaching slowly with a smile on her face. 

Donghyuck’s grandmother nods and gets up from her chair. She walks across the room and fetches a small stack of paper from the cabinet. She comes back and sets the papers on the table. They’re light-pink colored.

“I thought we could do a heart this time”, Donghyuck’s grandmother says. She flicks the table lamp on before sitting back down on her chair. 

Donghyuck nods enthusiastically again. He likes hearts, they’re pretty. 

Donghyuck’s grandmother takes two papers, sets one in front of Donghyuck and one in front of herself. They’re already cut to symmetrical square shape. She takes the right side of the paper between her frail fingers and folds the paper in half. 

“So, first you fold the paper in half”, she says and waits that Donghyuck has done exactly so, “Then you open it again and then you make this very little fold at the bottom of the paper”, she then instructs and shows again. Donghyuck watches carefully and then repeats the same action with his own paper.

They go on like this. Donghyuck’s grandmother instructs and slowly shows the folding step by step and Donghyuck follows the lead. She has to comfort the little boy couple of times when Donghyuck isn’t able to make the folding quite as perfect as she can. She swears it’s perfect the way it is. 

“And now the last, and the best part”, Donghyuck’s grandmother smiles, “You see this little hole at the bottom of the heart? You can blow air through it and make your heart nice and puffy”, she says and then proceeds to fill the origami heart with air. 

Donghyuck’s eyes shine with delight as he watches the heart get all puffy and 3D. He does the same thing to his own one. Soon he has an air-filled light pink heart in his hand. He loves it.

“Now, Donghyuck dear, I want to tell you something very important”, Donghyuck’s grandmother says after a moment. She turns on her chair to face Donghyuck properly. She’s holding her origami heart in her hand, showing it to the little boy. Donghyuck stops swirling his origami heart in his hands and focuses on his grandmother again.

“This heart is made of paper, right? It is precious, but so very easy to break. Human hearts are much like it”, she tells and sets her origami heart in the middle of her palm. Then, slowly, she moves her fingers around the heart and crushes it against her palm. Donghyuck watches, confused, as the light pink origami heart becomes just an amorphous clump of paper.

“When you’re older, and someone gives you their heart, remember that it is just as easy to break their heart, as it is to break this paper heart”, Donghyuck’s grandmother tells and gives Donghyuck the destroyed heart. Donghyuck knows the tone she is using. It is soft but serious, she uses it whenever she tells Donghyuck something she really wants him to pay attention to. 

Donghyuck takes the clump of paper and looks at it closely. He doesn’t quite understand what his grandmother means with all of that, but he surely knows that he never wants to do something like this to anyone’s heart.

“You might not completely understand me yet, but you will eventually”, Donghyuck’s grandmother smiles, “I just want you to take these words and press them in your heart”

Donghyuck takes a look at his pretty origami heart in his one hand and then another look at the crushed heart in his other. Then he lifts his gaze back to his grandmother and nods determinedly,

“I will”

  
~ ♡ ~

  
**9**

“Hey. What are you doing?” Donghyuck hears someone ask.

He turns his gaze and is met with a sight of a boy standing next to the table. The boy has short black hair and round eyes that are curiously staring at him.

“I’m doing origamis”, Donghyuck answers and lifts the halfway folded paper for the boy to see.

“Oh. I’ve never done origamis”, the boy says.

“I can teach you if you want. My grandmother used to teach me”, Donghyuck proposes.

The boy’s eyes light up with excitement. He nods and takes a seat next to Donghyuck. Donghyuck gives him a piece of paper.

“What’s your name?” he then asks, “I’ve never seen you before”

“I’m Mark. I just recently moved here. My parents signed me up to this after school club because they always work until late in the evening”

Donghyuck smiles, “Same here. I’m Donghyuck”

Then he takes the piece of paper to his hand and motions Mark to do the same, “Let’s make a heart. It’s my favorite”

Mark nods and they start the process. Much like his grandmother used to teach him, Donghyuck teaches Mark the folding of the origami heart slowly, step by step.

Mark seems to be natural talent.

“It’s pretty”, he says when they’re finished.

“Yep”, Donghyuck smiles, “My grandmother told me that people’s heart are like these origami hearts. Do you know what she meant by that?” he then asks.

Mark blinks a couple of times, looking at Donghyuck and then at the heart in his hand, “No. But I can ask my mom. I’m sure she knows”

“Okay”, Donghyuck says brightly, “Do you wanna make another one? We could do a swan”

“Sure!”

  
~ ♡ ~

  
**13**

Donghyuck thinks he gets it now.

While looking at the growing disappointed, slightly embarrassed, slightly hurt expression on the girl’s face, he thinks he gets it now. 

What his grandmother meant by how a human heart could just as easily be made out of paper. 

The girl, she’s Donghyuck’s classmate. She’s really nice and they get along great. They’re friends, Donghyuck would say. She just confessed liking him. 

Donghyuck knows he didn’t break her heart, but probably hurt it a little. Just like that, by sputtering an awkward rejection to her. She’ll probably get over it soon, but it still doesn’t feel nice. 

Donghyuck knows many of his classmates are starting to develop crushes and trying out dating. He could do that too, but he really doesn’t want to. Not that ‘’well, you’re an okay person, let’s try this boyfriend and girlfriend thing for a while even if we’re both way too young to know much about love’ -thing. 

He doesn’t want to because he gets it now. If he were to try anything, he wants it to be based on real feelings on both sides.

“Well... Um...”, the tips of the girl’s cheeks are now tinted bright red, “Yeah... So, we can just pretend that this never happened, right?” she awkwardly asks, slightly swaying from foot to foot in an uncomfortable manner.

Donghyuck blinks a couple of times, “Oh, yeah, yeah, sure”, he then says quickly, giving her an encouraging smile. She gives him a small smile back and then starts to turn around.

“We’re cool, right?” Donghyuck then still asks before she has the time to leave.

“Yeah, we’re cool”, she says and now gives him a proper, genuine smile. They’re cool. She gives him a small wave as a goodbye and then goes on her way. 

Donghyuck turns around and walks to the school’s gate where Mark has been waiting for him. They’re walking home together, like they always do.

“So, what did she want to tell you?” Mark asks.

“That she likes me”

“Oh”, Mark says with a surprised face, “What did you say? Do you like her back? You’ve never told me you have a crush on somebody”

“That’s because I don’t have a crush on anybody. I’d tell you if I had”, Donghyuck says, “I told her that I don’t like her that way, only as a friend. It was super awkward”, he then grimaces.

“I bet”, Mark nods along, “But aren’t you way too young to be dating anyway?” he then asks.

“Says a guy who’s only a year older than I am”

“Hey, I never said I wasn’t too young to be dating!”

“Well, good. Because you’re a baby”, Donghyuck says and pinches Mark’s cheek.

“Hey!” Mark exclaims and shoves Donghyuck playfully. Then he bursts out laughing and the younger does too.

They both think they’re too young to be dating and that’s more than okay.

  
~ ♡ ~

  
**16**

So, Donghyuck has finally realized and accepted something.

He doesn’t like girls at all. He likes boys.

Or maybe just a boy. 

The boy is a year older than Donghyuck. He’s around same height as Donghyuck is and he has black, slightly messily cut hair. He has beautiful dark-brown eyes that Donghyuck swears sometimes look right to his soul. Sometimes he wears contact lenses and sometimes glasses. He looks perfect either way. 

He has a great sense of humor. He laughs a lot, even to stupid things. Especially to stupid things. He has a captivating laugh.

He’s a very kind person. Sometimes maybe too kind for his own good. He’s also very talented. Whatever he decides to try, he will succeed in it if he wants to. Donghyuck admires that.

He knows Donghyuck better than anyone else and understands him in ways that others don’t. 

He makes Donghyuck feel safe and sea sick and everything from between. 

He goes by the name Mark Lee. 

And that is scary as hell. 

Because Donghyuck is pretty sure you’re not supposed to fall for your best friend. That’s not how it goes. 

Your best friend is supposed to be your ride or die for life, and you’re not supposed to possibly ruin that with some extraneous feelings. 

And what makes it even more difficult, is the fact that technically, _technically_ , Donghyuck might have a chance with the older. Mark was the first of them to come out, one afternoon telling Donghyuck that he’s a bisexual. Only after that, Donghyuck had managed to utter that he thinks he might be gay.

So, Donghyuck can’t exactly hide behind the fact that Mark would never like him back because he only likes girls.

And it is hard for Donghyuck to even try to get rid of these feelings because Mark is _always there_. He’s always there and he’s always super nice and super funny and super supportive and just the best person Donghyuck knows. And sometimes Donghyuck feels like Mark is purposely coming out of his way to be close to the younger. But it’s probably just Donghyuck’s wistful thinking.

And yet, Donghyuck doesn’t even know if he wants to get rid of the feelings. Because Mark is always there and he would never want it any other way. 

  
~ ♡ ~

  
**18**

“Happy birthday, Hyuck!” Mark wishes as soon as Donghyuck opens the front door for him.

The older sets the bags he’s carrying on the floor and then he reaches to pull Donghyuck into a hug. 

“Thanks, Mark”, Donghyuck smiles and responds to the hug. The older’s body is warm against his and he smells like ginger shampoo and men’s perfume. Donghyuck doesn’t want to let go. 

And maybe the hug lasts a second longer than it is usually socially acceptable.

“How does it feel to be an adult finally?” Mark then asks when they draw apart.

“I feel no different than on any other day”, Donghyuck tells honestly.

Mark lets out a bright laugh, “Yeah. They always make it seem like you will experience this some kind of epiphany once you turn eighteen and become an adult, yet in reality, you’re still the exactly same stupid person you’ve always been. Now you just gotta pay taxes and try to be a productive member of society”, he says and pats Donghyuck’s shoulder twice, “Welcome to adulthood, it sucks”

“Jeez, thanks”, Donghyuck deadpans, “Now I feel like partying”

Mark grins innocently at the younger. Then he kicks his shoes off and takes the bags from the floor again. Next time he lifts his gaze to Donghyuck again, the teasing grin has slipped off and got replaced by a genuine smile,

“I’m just messing with you. Adulthood is actually pretty fine. The pros outweigh the cons”, he then assures, his voice now completely sincere.

It’s so Mark. To first tease Donghyuck, but then soon to take it back and tell his real thoughts. Just to make sure the younger won’t misinterpret anything or get offended.

Donghyuck smiles widely. Mark is so cute.

“What’d you bring?” the younger then asks and nudges his head towards the bags.

“Some snacks and drinks for the party”, Mark tells and slightly shakes the bag in his right hand, “And then pajamas, toothbrush and such. I thought I could stay the night”, he then says and shakes the bag in his left hand in turn.

“Well, duh, obviously”, Donghyuck rolls his eyes and grins. He hadn’t said anything about the sleepover because he had thought it was obvious.

They walk further inside the house. Donghyuck had asked Mark to come earlier and help him to set everything ready for the party. Donghyuck has invited all his friends and all the nice acquaintances from school to celebrate his birthday.

Mark takes the bag full of drinks and snacks to the kitchen while Donghyuck stays in the living room and thinks whether they should move some furniture around to make the space more accessible for many people.

Mark walks back into the living room, holding something in his hand.

“Hey, Hyuck. I, um, actually have something for you”, Mark says while walking closer to the younger. 

Donghyuck looks at him and notices the small wrapped box in his hand.

“I thought we agreed that no birthday presents”, the younger says, his voice half filled with complaint, half filled with amusement and joy.

“Yeah, like you didn’t give me something on my 18th birthday”, Mark reminds and gives Donghyuck a pointed eye. The younger grins innocently.

Mark’s expression shifts again to something close to nervousness, “But don’t worry, I didn’t spend any money on it”, he then says carefully and hands the present to Donghyuck. The younger wonders why he seems to be so nervous about a gift.

Donghyuck takes the box and sits down on the couch to open it. He starts to unwrap it.

Mark sits down right next to him. _Very close_ next to him.

These kinds of small things are what make Donghyuck want to scream. He doesn’t want to read too much into it, but he can’t help but to feel that he and Mark have been dancing around each other for the last year or two.

Under the colorful wrapping paper, there’s a simple cardboard box. Donghyuck takes a quick glance at Mark. The older is biting down on his lower lip, eyes focused on the unwrapping of the gift.

Donghyuck opens the cardboard box. His heart misses a beat.

Inside, there’s an origami heart.

It’s small and air-filled, just like those that Donghyuck used to do with his grandmother when he was little. Just like those that Donghyuck taught Mark to do when they were just kids. 

It’s made out of blue paper. Mark’s favorite color.

Carefully, Donghyuck lifts the paper heart from the box to his hand. With wonder in his eyes and warmth in his heart, he looks at it.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, one origami heart is worth a thousand words.

Donghyuck lifts his eyes to meet with Mark’s.

The older gives him a small smile, “Don’t break it, okay?”

“I would never”, Donghyuck whispers.

Then he scoots a bit closer to the older, if it’s still possible. He lifts his hand on Mark’s cheek, his eyes now flickering between the older’s eyes and lips.

“Can I?”

Mark nods.

Donghyuck leans closer, closes his eyes and presses his lips on Mark’s. It’s a soft kiss and feels like something that was always meant to happen.

They break apart.

Mark’s smile could light up galaxies.

  
~ ♡ ~

  
**22**

Donghyuck’s bathing in the sunlight.

The sun is shining high on the blue, cloudless sky. It’s very warm outside, hot almost. Donghyuck doesn’t mind one bit.

He looks around the park. There are lots of people there; families, couples and groups of friends. Families with kids have parked themselves near the playground on the other side of the park. Most couples and friend groups are occupying the wide grass area, just like Mark and Donghyuck. Some have been fortunate enough to get a spot under the few big trees there are scattered around the park.

It’s perfect weather for a picnic outside. 

Donghyuck is sitting on the ground on a soft blanket. It’s white and red checkered just like those that they always use in cartoons and movies when having a picnic. Mark had insisted that they should get one just like that.

Speaking of the older, Donghyuck turns his gaze to see where his boyfrie-, no, _fiancé_ , is currently going. He had left to go get them ice-cream from the stall on the edge of park. Donghyuck sees that Mark is already walking back, carrying a cone one of ice-cream in both of his hands.

The ring on Donghyuck’s left ring finger feels unfamiliar, yet so perfect. It’s made of white cold and has three small diamond stones in it. Donghyuck absolutely loves it.

“Here”, Mark, who has reached their blanket, says and hands the ice-cream to Donghyuck. Then he sits down next to the younger.

“Thanks, love”, Donghyuck smiles and leans to give a peck on Mark’s lips.

It had been so, so easy to say yes.

Whether human hearts are made out of paper, Donghyuck doesn’t know.

But he does know, that with Mark, he never needs to worry about that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <33


End file.
